Disaster or Tea Party?

            Civil Liberties are a huge focus for my American Studies class. Recently we’ve spent a lot of time talking about our freedoms and when, if ever, they should be limited. We’ve been thinking the amount of control the government has over the media and how that can effect what the public knows. I had never really realized before how huge this impact was until I stumbled across this story about what Russians are being told about Putin's military invasion of Ukraine.

            Instead of “Ukraine readies for an invasion by Russia” and “PM says Ukraine on the brink of disaster” (headlines from US and Western Europe), the Russian headlines read, “Tea, sandwiches, music, photos with self-defense forces mark peaceful Sunday in Simferopol”.

            The above image was accompanied by the live pro-Russia Rally being held in Simferopol, Ukraine. The media chose to focus solely on this one pro-Russia event instead of Putin's military intervention that took place in Crimea, Ukraine, not Simferopol. In showing this instead of the pictures of the burnings or of the wounded, Russia is morphing the situation into something that can only reassure the Russian people that the invasion is going well and is remaining peaceful.

I believe that in showing this only positive viewpoint the media is unfairly hiding this serious situation in Crimea. Although this is a perilous time, by highlighting the pro-Russia rally instead of the negative sides of the invasion, they are in no way protecting the Russian citizens and therefore they should be showing the negative aspects as well. There are two sides to every story, and shouldn’t the people of Russia be entitled to both?